Last Friday afternoon, Chipmaker Nuvidia CEO Jensen Hun slid into the White House to meet President Trump for the first time. There was no fanfare and he left without taking a single public photo of the two.
Two weeks ago, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had a long lunch with Trump at the Mar Lago Estate in Florida. They almost ate in a fuss and barely made news again.
Neither executive joined his big tech contemporaries who stood on Ramrod behind Trump at his inauguration. Instead, the two were on a completely different continent. Nadella was traveling to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Fang had finished a visit to see suppliers and employees in Taiwan and China.
The absence of two CEOs from two of the world’s most valuable companies at the inauguration ceremony is partially when Trump returns to Washington, even if some peers have acquired a gorgeous display. was the most visual indication that companies had attempted a lower key approach. Courtship.
Unlike many of his peers, for companies like Microsoft and Nvidia who are not angering Trump, “it’s almost business as usual,” says S. Somasegar, a former Microsoft executive at Madrona Venture Group. He said. Nadella.
Microsoft and Nvidia share a quiet approach with Trump, but their footprint in Washington is the opposite pole. Microsoft, in its 50th anniversary cusp, has been learned by the antitrust fight over 20 years ago, but is undoubtedly the smartest player on Tech’s policy issues, and a powerful lobby who has nurtured contacts in both parties Activities and executives.
Meanwhile, Nvidia is a newcomer in Washington. Its profile has grown rapidly in recent years thanks to the overwhelming control of the specialized chips needed to build large-scale AI systems by other high-tech companies.
The two companies have a high interest. The new administration will need to finalize rules regarding the sale of NVIDIA chips and the construction of overseas Microsoft data centers. Microsoft also has many other concerns, including cybersecurity, AI systems regulations, and power demands for power data centers. After breakthrough development by startup DeepSeek, Nvidia faces the risk that the administration could further reduce its chip sales to China.
“Everyone has to come to the table. They do that in a variety of ways, because if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” says Kevin, senior partner at Penta. Madden said the group, a global strategy company and former senior strategist of Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.
Their quiet strategy was on display around the inauguration ceremony. Microsoft President Brad Smith attended a cabinet member reception hosted by Vice President JD Vance. A week later, Smith and Nadella were hosted by the Alfalfa Club and were nominated for candidates for North Dakota Governor and former Governor of Nadella Howard Lutonic, Linda McMahon and Doug Burgham. We went to dinner with black tie, which was attended by the audience. An old mentor at Microsoft. Ned Finkle, Nvidia’s Vice President of Foreign Affairs, and some of Nvidia’s policy staff, also attended the inauguration celebration.
Like other tech companies, Microsoft has donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund, but did so after his colleagues. It gave $500,000 to the inauguration fund for the first Trump administration in 2021 (Nvidia did not donate to the first fund).
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez went on a gossip page in an Instagram post when they had dinner on a much-anticipated trip to Mar Lago in mid-December I did.
Microsoft leaders met with Trump’s staff, cabinet appointees and technology advisors. When they arrived at Mar-A-Lago, they knew Trump’s priorities and concerns.
They talked about security and investment in infrastructure, and when Trump raised concerns about nuclear safety, it has become popular as a data center power supplier – Nadella, Smith, Elon Musk was involved. According to someone with knowledge of conversation, lunch tried to ease his fears.
Nvidia’s Huang skipped Mar-A-Lago and waited for a visit to the administration almost two weeks after the inauguration.
By the time he arrives in Washington this month, it was clear that the Trump administration could be a threat to Nvidia’s business. Lutnick, a wealthy donor to Trump, chosen to lead the Commerce Department, told Congress at a nomination hearing a few days ago that American tech companies, including NVIDIA, “need to stop help.” “He said he thought of China.
“If they compete with us, let them compete, but stop using our tools to compete with us,” he said.
The comments shattered Nvidia’s hopes that Trump might lead a lighter regulatory environment than his predecessor. Under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the US has curbed the sale of Nvidia chips to China and capped AI chips to more than 100 other countries. The expansion and enforcement of these rules will fall into the Trump administration.
During his first afternoon meeting with Trump, Fan talked about AI policies and semiconductors. But then Trump told reporters he couldn’t tell them whether he would ban Nvidia’s chip sales more to China. He added, “It was a good meeting,” but the administration was still planning to impose tariffs on chips made overseas, which is why Nvidia’s case was made in Taiwan. He added that it will cut it to profits.
“He’s a great gentleman,” Trump said of Fan. “He’s the largest in the world in terms of tips.”
Finkle declined to discuss the meeting. In an interview with The New York Times, he said, “Things went well, but I can’t say anything more.”
Faced with pressure from the White House, Nvidia is strengthening Washington’s presence. The company, which opened its first office there this week last year, features Stewart Barber, a Republican government official who previously worked as an advisor to Ivanka Trump, and is anonymous with two people familiar with Nvidia’s offices. I called for a discussion. manager.
The company has applied to become a member of the Information Technology Industry Council, a policy group representing most of the leading high-tech companies. He also hired American Global Strategies, a geopolitical advisory group led by Robert C. O’Brien, who served as the White House national security advisor for two years under Trump.
Nvidia’s belated expansion in Washington could also be attributed to the perception that new excellence has demanded it more enthusiastically. In just over a year, Nvidia’s market value has risen to $2 trillion, making it one of the three most valuable public companies in the world, Microsoft and Apple.
“We’ve been working hard to get the better of our customers,” said Dean Garfield, former senior vice president of Netflix, who led the Information Technology Industry Council from 2009 to 2018. The steps they take. ”
